The Living Fantasy
by Strikey
Summary: "Beyond the worlds of imagination lays a place full of mystery waiting to be unraveled." Our passel of characters explore the world beyond the average imagination... in the world of fantasy...
1. First Few Steps

**Chapter One:**

**First Few Steps**

"Zzzz… if only…" I said silently while I slept with a large pillow by my side in the Inn.

"You should probably be waking up now, unless you want to be late?" said Beatrix sitting on the bench by the Inn door. Out of annoyance she decided to leave me with the bill for staying in for the night. "You can deal with this? Can't you?"

After a long rummage through my pockets for some spare change and paying the innkeepers, I quickly caught up with her fast pacing.

"You seem confident today, did you go through some midnight training?" I ruthlessly asked. She seemed to have noticed the fact I was trying to change the subject for sleeping in late.

"If you really want to take this thing seriously, try sleeping earlier instead of reading those lousy scrolls of yours! What good are they anyway! They're just some prehistoric mumbo-jumbo!" She angrily mentioned.

"For your information, these scrolls hold the information for the class I'm taking at this apprenticeship. Don't you record results on your archery skills? I'm sure you need at least a reference to refer on? I swear you haven't shot a bullseye in these last three months of training!" I exclaimed firmly. "Look at your brother, he's already finished his Magician apprenticeship by studying his scrolls while practicing the spells and he passed without even breaking a sweat!"

She looked at me not with her eyes, but with her blinding fist. I fell to the ground with a red mark on my face and luckily for her, that was her soft punch.

"That's for all the times you've annoyed me, even as little children… OH WAIT… you're still a child aren't you? And by the way, you haven't exactly seen every nook and cranny of my archery skills!" she madly explained.

Without a word, we cooperatively just walked to the apprenticeship camp in the forest just below the city. I was surprised she kept quiet for the remainder of the journey. Once we had arrived, her brother Francis was already there to watch our performances.

"Hey there, good luck today but I'm sure you both won't need that luck. I've seen how dedicated you both have been, so get out there and do your utmost best!" encouragingly said Francis.

He was always there during the months to support us. Beatrix's tryout came first. There were many targets scattered on the field for her to shoot and it was judged simply on timing and accuracy. The targets would pop out of the ground very quickly, so her reactions would also judge her performance.

"Hope I made it in, I missed a few times but my immediate reaction to the targets should still count? Shouldn't it?" she asked eagerly.

"Of course, I'm sure you made it in. The others I've seen over the months didn't even get to shoot at anything." He said out of relief.

My trial came shortly after. The judges seemed to be very strict, judging only from their face expressions and tone of voice. I don't think they've seen a decent performance in my class all day! My class involved the manipulation of various basic elemental spells and swordsmanship. My class had curative abilities as well, but they cannot be taught from scrolls or a lesson, they must be passed on from another person with the same or similar abilities.

"Wish me luck" I asked Beatrix and Francis.

"Yeah whatever…" She said carelessly.

"Just ignore her, and do your absolute best! Remember what I taught you!" he said with great motivation.

I started out with enchanting my blade with a Flame Ritual which will allow my sword to cast multiple Fire-based spells for an allotted amount of time. Using the scrolls Beatrix neglected, I summoned a great inferno to the barren field followed up with a Cryonic Ritual causing my blade to cast Ice-based artillery. I caused it to gently snow so that the snow would melt into water causing the fire to cease burning the field. Now using a scroll I saved months for to buy, I enchanted my blade with the power of the Arcane which warped the field strangely causing the flames to return while the snow lingered. It seemed almost impossible that the snow did not melt, but it seemed like I aced that move quite well.

After the short performance, the judges had a short chat with Francis. They offered me the position of Magician instead of my own class I wanted but I simply did not accept. Besides, I never liked what the Magicians wore for combat… seemed a little uncomfortable to walk in. The judges allowed me to pass on as a Sword-caster and continue my training.

After the main ceremony, the passing students were announced.

Beatrix and I were so happy to hear that we were accepted for the apprenticeships yet she still seemed to hate me for the early morning. We were all each given a scroll with a monster we must venture out and hunt for.

As we left the field, the grounds begun to shake violently like if Francis was manipulating the earth for amusement again. The earth formed a huge trench reaching miles down. Then out of that darkness approached a radiant, bright green light. Francis was the first to know what it was… it was his sister.

But before the light came out, a monstrous being sprouted out of the ground and attacked the light.

"Christie! Hold on!" yelled Francis.

He quickly deflected the light using his own spells. The monster seemed earth-based so he fought with Fire spells to distract the fiend.

Then out of the darkness came Christie, a young Summoner who passed the apprenticeship exam a few years ago and ventured out on her own journey. She was never heard of again.

She rode on her Phoenix made from her own mind and intellect and attacked the monster accordingly with her brother. They seemed like a fountain of flame sprouting out fireworks rather than brute strength and I did believe it was rather beautiful to see.

"Look, this is getting no where … just allow me to handle this" insisted Beatrix.

She shot the giant in the eye with a single arrow while it fell to the ground and disintegrated.

"Well, you're no fun sis… we were enjoying teaching that thing a lesson!" annoyingly said Francis.

"HEY! As long as we're all safe that's all that matters right? I haven't seen you two in years and look how much you've all grown! I could barely recognise you!" passionately said Christie, panting for a breath every now and then.

"Well, I guess the woman's right! So we can relax for the rest of the day now eh?" I said relieved.

We all headed for a day's earned rest at a rather pricey Inn, but Christie seemed to be loaded with spare change without having to search for hours for money in her pocket. This fact… I envied.

"Goodnight and welcome back to the group Christie couldn't have made it alive without you!" I said just to annoy Beatrix.

"Oh shush, we all know why we survived" Beatrix said out of flattery.

"Zzzz… YAWN!" shouted Francis in his sleep.

The days now continue, with an unexpected comrade to return to us. I sure hope many adventures are yet to come for the likes of us.

As I tried to sleep, the same underground tremor troubled my mind.

"What could this be telling us?"


	2. Beyond the Beyond

**Chapter Two**

**Beyond the Beyond**

The same dream recurred to me from yesterday. I dreamt of a land where people who passed the exams would go to in case of training or adventure. From when I was a young fellow, I yearned for adventure so I kept having this dream and of course hoping I would pass the test.

I woke up earlier than everyone else this time and Francis was the one to have Beatrix yell for sleeping overtime. She seemed quite eager to get going and go to the market to buy some equipment for the journey we're supposed to take for our apprenticeships.

"She does that to you too eh? Wake you up in the morning like if a banshee was screaming in your ears?" asked Francis.

"By now, I think I've gotten used to it. You're rather lucky to not have been left with the bill, seeing as this place seemed way out of our price range." I said in response.

The market was filled on this day with eager adventurers who passed yesterday's testing. The blade I held seemed to hold an abnormal amount of rust, so I decided to buy another. The one I bought was rather odd as it had my family crest on it, but I knew none of my family members knew how to handle a blade so it must just be a coincidence.

Christie ignored the equipment stands and went straight to the food market and bought consumable supplies. She seemed quite happy at the Sushi stand where exotic rice-rolls were sold.

"We can't exactly go out on a journey without fresh supplies, because you can't expect me to run out in combat with an empty stomach. That's simply inhumane." She said with assurance.

Francis seemed very enticed at the magic store, but I never seemed to trust the stores he roamed in seeing as I've heard stories of scamming and fake items.

A bony man came up to him and asked him to purchase a scroll. The man described the scroll to have the ability of Randomized Teleportation. As he further explained it, he told us it teleports a group of people near the scroll to a randomly placed checkpoint somewhere on the continent.

Francis refused to buy a product which was obviously just another misuse of merchandising.

The rage on the man's head was as red as the apples Christie had bought. He cast the spell on the scroll and threw it in Francis' hands… then suddenly we all were warped into a strange dimension.

The scroll had leaded us to the far north in the cold, cold areas of the continent. Beatrix checked her map and told us that this place was not officially marked geographically. We were completely lost, only with our equipment and past supplies. It was cold to the bone in that area and nothing but white was seen.

"Hey! I have an idea! Why don't we set Beatrix's arrows on fire and use it as a flare for help!" insisted Francis.

"That's not a bad idea at all!" said Beatrix, so she tried it.

Francis did not hesitate to incinerate the tips of the arrow, so Beatrix shot it willingly. The burning arrow split in mid-air which was a basic side-effect probably caused by the weather… or the fact that Beatrix's arrows were rather cheap.

For minutes we did not see any sign of response from the flare until a slight bit later. A strange figure in the distance came our way, but it did not seem alone. Christie immediately knew what these things were… they were dangerous beasts she had heard of in her past travels.

We ran as fast as we could in the deep snow while Francis and I melted our way to a pathway to a small household in the far distance. We went inside, only to notice that the door was unlocked and people were inside, shocked at the fact we just entered their home.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" said the old woman.

"There were fiends chasing us and this seemed like the only place of refuge around here! You can't expect us to fight off that army!" Christie explained.

"Oh you mean my pets? They're not to be afraid of. They're just here to protect my husband and me from intruders, but you seem friendly enough. I'll inform them that you're of no harm so you all can get going." She said in response.

"Thank you Mrs…" Francis replied clueless.

"Its Mrs Lydia and yes you are welcome young man" the woman said to explain.

"By any chance, could we perhaps spend the day here until we're aware of where we are?" I asked.

"Sure why not, we barely get any visitors anyway up here." said the man. "The name's Roberto, nice to meet you lot."

"If you need a well updated map, it's up in the kitchen" he said.

"Thank you again." said Francis.

After a moment to take in some breaths from the chase, we finally got back to our senses.

We finally knew where we were, and it was no where near our continent. The man lied about the fact that it took us somewhere on the continent… it took us to a random location on Earth!

We were in the vast frozen desert in Ethenera, two continents away from our own.


	3. Sheer Cold

**Chapter Three:**

**Sheer Cold**

"So now that we know where we are, got a plan of any sort?" I asked anxiously.

"Well, we know that there are dangerous fiends out there just waiting for us somewhere in this frozen wasteland, so I propose we keep it unnoticed with minimal chat whilst we travel to the nearest teleportation device in this country." Francis implied.

"If I know Ethenera, this place barely holds a civilisation seeing as it was frozen by a chaotic sorceress who named the continent itself after her!" Christie added.

We took a moment to think, and then Beatrix came out with a crazy plan of her own.

"Then there's only one thing to do, find her and slay her." Beatrix said out of deep interest of getting out of here. "Once she's done with, she's bound to release us from this icy wasteland."

"Even though I think your idea is wild and reckless, it seems to be our first and last resort of action" I said in agreement.

"I guess it's settled then, we'll risk our own lives… to save our own lives? That doesn't sound quite right but nevertheless I'm in." Francis agreed.

We packed our supplies and headed out to the Frosty Grotto outside the main snow piles. The only town on the continent was in that frozen valley. That's where we aim to find the right attire for slaying the witch who enslaved the continent.

As we walked down the path, we looked at the many sights around us. It seems like a prison was to the far West and I swear I heard a voice screaming for help. Or was it just me?

Inside the town, the people seemed to have been quiet… a little too quiet for our liking. I asked a nearby stall about the town.

"It's been a horrible nightmare in Ethenera seeing as that witch never seems to let us go from her spell. We're doomed to roam the continent with no way to escape. You see, if you were to walk into the fog near the continent's border, you'd just magically return to the other end of the continent. There is no escape." The man explained with sheer terror.

"I see, well… I guess the plan Beatrix thought of is our only salvation." agreed Francis.

As we kept exploring the town area, the items sold seemed to have been stored for hundreds of years. I swear that I haven't seen a blade so rusty and useless in my whole life. Then I knew this place was of no use, if we tried to buy supplies from it.

In the main square, we saw a young girl playing her music for the crowd. She played a melody so beautiful that I suddenly became warm inside, completely ignoring the cold.

"I dedicate this song for my lost brothers in Ethenera prison, may our prayers be with them." She said faithfully.

So that screaming I heard earlier was true, there are prisoners held captive there. As she walked off, I noticed that her shoes were rather odd. They held a red and black striped pattern with a strange symbol of a star on them. They didn't seem like they came from this world.

"Hey, that was some beautiful music you played… you said that your brothers have been imprisoned?" I asked.

"Yes sadly however only my younger brother is imprisoned whilst my older sibling was forced to work there as a guard under enforcement by Ethenera. I haven't seen them for the past few months." She explained.

"I've been apprenticed by Ethenera in the past for the Curative Magicks, but that was long ago before she took control of the continent." She explained again.

I immediately thought she could be a great asset in our team, so I asked her to join us in liberating Ethenera prison and freeing her brothers. She gladly accepted, but before heading off, she taught the basic curative spells to Christie and me.

"The first step to curative magic, is to feel only positive thoughts, otherwise your spell may become more harm than aid. Here's the most basic of spells; the Purify spell. This relieves a person of a curse or poison taint in their mind, body or soul. It can become handy in the worst situations. The other spells however, take more time so I'll teach them to you later. OH! I forgot… my name is Elyssa and very nice to meet you all!" she finally mentioned.

"Nice to meet you also, you can be a great help in our journey to finally free the people of Ethenera." The team gladly said with joy.

We ventured out to the prison with hopes that we can free her brothers. The gate seemed to be heavily guarded with archers and steel gates.

"This seemed to have been harder than originally thought." I quoted to myself.

Our plan was basic enough; just use our abilities to break down the first gate. It seemed to have been easier than thought. The archers didn't seem to notice us oddly.

"That was odd, they didn't even fire at us…" she said. "Hmm, allow me to check up there."

"Careful now, don't get into any sort of trouble." Francis included.

She reported back saying that the archers were nothing more but statues probably used to scare off anyone daring enough to raid the prison.

Getting inside was a little too easy so we put our expectations down. We saw no guards inside, with no prisoners.

"What could be going on? What's happened here?" I asked Elyssa.

"I have no clue about the status of this prison, but somewhere in these rooms lay my brothers Jeremiah and Jeffrey." Elyssa mentioned.

We searched all through the main rooms until we found an odd underground trap-door. We decided to head inside, out of curiosity. The underground was a frozen cavern with icicles and lit torches, possibly meaning someone was here just recently. We followed the trail of lit torches until it lead us to a throne room of some sort.

There was a large furry creature fighting two boys in the corner and they seemed extremely injured.

"Those are my brothers!" exclaimed Elyssa. "We have to help them!"

"Stay back! This thing killed the rest of the prisoners and guards! You can't stand a chance!" Jeffrey mentioned with care for her sister.

"And you think you can handle this on a two-man team! Are you crazy!" she yelled out.

Jeremiah leapt into the air and got slammed onto an icy wall. Elyssa quickly got into action and teleported to his location. She fed him with an odd potion and then a prayer rather than a spell.

Her brother was immediately healed from his wounds, and eager to keep fighting.

"Let go of me! We need to get rid of this thing!" he demanded vigorously.

"There's no way I'm letting you get hurt and the same goes for Jeffrey!" she pleaded.

Beatrix, Francis, Christie and I decided to pitch in and help Jeffrey but Christie seemed to have kept quiet for a while.

"Hey what's wrong with you? Help us and fight!" asked Francis.

"Wait… something tells me something worse is coming… a sense a dark presence in these caverns." She mentioned in a whispering tone.

The throne situated at the end of the room formed a portal in which a pale woman with crystals attached to her came out. It was the ice queen… Ethenera.

She froze the furry giant and threw it into the portal, ridding of it immediately.

"Pitiful humans, come for a visit have you now?" She implied with a strange warped voice.

"…That's not the Ethenera I once knew, she's now been cursed with evil." said Elyssa as she fainted.


	4. Fire and Ice

**Chapter Four:**

**Fire and Ice**

Jeremiah quickly pointed out that she had a major weakness to flame. If her crystals were to melt, her very life force would be drained away. He also mentioned that this information was gathered from a different dimension.

"I guess we should probably tell you now, but we're not from this world at this time. Jeremiah, Elyssa and I came from the future, 700 years into the future." explained Jeffrey.

"Oh! So that's why those shoes of hers were never seen in this time. That's some interesting information Jeffrey but we have a bigger problem here." said Beatrix with an annoyed tone.

Ethenera released the icicles hanging from the ceiling and poured them down to the ground. We thought our fate was lost just then, until _someone_ came back to her senses.

"Phoenix! Come forth!" as Christie summoned her majestic pet.

Her familiar melted the icicles and one crystal on Ethenera, but oddly the Phoenix disappeared in an instant after it saved us.

"Your pets are of no use here; as long as this portal persists… their very souls are drained and used to fuel my own power!" Ethenera implied with a terrifying rage. "Now taste my undying wrath!"

The room slowly became spiked with stalagmites tipped with crystal points. Francis found it hard to see what element this attack was so he did not know what to do with the situation.

"Hey! Tip my arrows with flame again! I have an idea!" Beatrix implied.

Francis quickly did then Beatrix released 5 simultaneous arrows heading for Ethenera's icy crystal ligaments which melted a majority of them. The stalagmites ceased straight after that, saving the group from death.

"That was a close one…" I said quietly to myself.

"Yeah you better thank me for that, saved your lives yet again!" she said while sticking her tongue out at us.

"Don't get cocky now Beatrix, the fight isn't over." Jeremiah said with a monotone voice.

Ethenera didn't seem like too much of a worry probably because we outnumbered her but I knew something was coming… something purely terrifying.

"From the depths of the icy seas and using my final ounces of strength, I summon the great beast formed from the submerged glaciers themselves… "Ethenera said as she slowly faded away.

A terrifying monster made from prehistoric crystal had taken Ethenera's place in the fight. It also held the few crystals Ethenera had left as its final life force. Elyssa woke up at last from the roar of the creature.

"This being was the reason the continent was put into a cold surrender, if we were to kill it, the continent would finally be freed from the ice and we would be allowed to leave. This is your chance!" Elyssa explained.

"Lets not waste any time then… en-guard!" as I swung my flaming sword at the creature's tail.

It seems like fire had no extra advantage this time, except for the damage it did to the crystal's life force on the creature.

"Let's get this party started shall we?" Elyssa said with great motivation.

She cast a spell on the group which would add a permanent Fire enchantment for the duration of the battle so that the crystals would quickly melt away. Francis and Christie headed for the main torso of the creature whilst Jeffrey and I chipped off the parts of its tail. Beatrix had to stay with Elyssa seeing as the arrows needed a separate enchantment for each one. Jeremiah was still heavily injured from the previous battle so he had to take a rest for this one.

"Burn in hell you pathetic fiend! Take your queen along with you!" Francis shouted as he cast an inferno to the main crystal near its heart.

"That's the attitude I like! Keep it up!" agreed Jeffrey as he sliced the crystal from the end of its tail.

"There are two crystals left, but they're inside the creature! How can we get to them?" Beatrix asked.

I knew there was only one way, and I had to risk my own life force to hopefully destroy them.

"I'll have to head inside using the arcane scroll I bought many days ago before coming here. It will warp me inside, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get out." I said as I volunteered.

"WHAT! That's suicide! You'll never make it!" Christie implied.

"There's no other choice, its either we all get trapped, or at least the rest of you are set free." I sadly mentioned.

After moments of arguing with them, they simply had to insist on dying with me.

"Then we're coming with you!" volunteered Francis and Christie. "There's no way we're letting you have the final blow! What fun is that?"

Then I knew this was settled, so the three of us ventured inside.

"Arcanum activate!" the scroll slowly warped us inside the monster's main body.

The inside looked nothing like it seemed on the transparent look from the outside. It was like a maze in here, with doors and upside down staircases.

"This isn't as it seems… it's just playing an illusion on us. Cast your arcane scroll again and see what happens?" asked Francis.

So I did, it turns out that it was all an illusion and that the crystals were right in front of us. The voice of Ethenera was also lingering here near the heart of the beast. The heart was made up of both crystals which seemed to be draining my very own life force.

"This is not another mind trick, so we better get this over and done with." he implied.

Using the best of our flame masteries, we fired our shots directly at the heart. It had no effect whatsoever.

"What could possibly be wrong now?" asked Christie.

"… Foolish humans, do you really think you could destroy me so easily?" the voice said.

We knew who that was, and she wasn't anywhere close to being dead. Ethenera appeared on top of the crystal, shielding it from our attacks. That explained why our attacks were useless, Ethenera herself was a barrier between us, and our freedom… just as we heard while in our travels in the continent.

… This was our chance… our road to victory.

Then something came up, I finally knew how to destroy this thing once and for all. When we saw that the previous monster was thrown into the portal, it had to be heavily frozen to be absorbed inside. The crystal beast we fought now was not even made of ice, but pure, cold crystal.

I immediately reacted to those facts and made up my own special plan.

"Francis! Cast a waterfall onto the heart! Christie! Summon your water familiar!" I shouted out in demand.

They both did, and the natural cold in the creature began to freeze their spells rapidly.

With a final blow, I cast an Avalanche to finally cover the whole exterior and interior with snow and ice. As the creature was slowly being pulled into the portal, I rapidly used the arcane scroll to get us out.

We were warped out of the creature and back to the main throne room.

The creature was pleading for help, but we showed no pity for it.

"Damn, that was an interesting ride." Francis said in awe.

The walls of the prison began to melt along with the cavern. In an instant, it seemed like we were outside but without the cold mountains of snow and ice. The fields bloomed with flowers and grass. I knew what we did was right, and we were proud of it.

The townspeople cheered for their heroes, and I found that to be rather embarrassing. The group was invited to a feast with the people. We noticed we still had some food left over from the market, so we gave them a taste of our world too.

"I've completely stuffed myself with as much as I could possibly eat." I said with a tone of a pig.

"You should have seen how much Francis ate, and he ain't even done yet!" Beatrix laughed.

"Hey! All that hard work inside the giant took off a lot of energy, all you do is grab an arrow and pull a string, what kind of work is that?" responded Francis.

"Hah, this group ain't so bad after all. Pleased to finally have met your acquaintance, my name's Jeremiah. Sorry I couldn't have been much of help in the battle, but you inspired me to do better in the future." he said in inspiration.

Elyssa and Jeffrey smiled to see their little brother was feeling all better now.

"Hey Elyssa, could you perhaps hook me up with a pair of those shoes? I'd really actually want to try a pair. OH! And make them black!" asked Beatrix with excitement.

"Sure, why not? I'd be glad to even try to make you a pair." agreed Elyssa.

"I'm sure you fellows need a place to stay for the night, so come by our place later on." Jeffrey said as he invited the group.

After the work that was done, we remembered that all of us received a scroll with a monster we were assigned to kill. Our apprenticeships weren't completely over, but we would rather rest right now than make a fuss about that.

As usual, I took the opportunity to snatch the largest softest pillow in the house. They didn't seem to agree with that, so we began to argue. We all then got a little uncontrolled and almost ripped it apart.

"We haven't had a time like this in a while have we Elyssa?" asked Jeffrey.

"It's been too long, far too long. Now it seems we have a new family while in this world. That's something to be happy for." she said with tears.

"It's time for a… PILLOW FIGHT!" Jeremiah screamed across the room and thus our own little combat started inside the house, it couldn't have been any better. This surely brought back some precious memories. I asked myself a similar question as to before… "What is ahead of us, what waits out there?"


	5. Continuing the Original Path

**Chapter Five:**

**Continuing the Original Path**

We woke up in the morning, still rather tired from yesterday's major conflict. The wounds seemed to have healed though, so that was a relief.

"We should probably regroup at Mrs Lydia's house for some more information." insisted Christie. "She and her husband knew many things about the geography of this land, so perhaps we could acquire a map from them."

Their house seemed very different now, seeing as the piles of snow were gone. We all heard an odd chatter inside.

As we went inside, we were rather surprised at what we saw.

"Welcome back brave heroes! Thankyou for freeing our land from the terror we once knew as the land of Ethenera." Roberto gladly said with rejoice.

They had already organised a welcoming party with many of the townsfolk there. They offered us gifts of weapons, scrolls and of course snacks for our journey!

"We can't thank you enough for what you did for us, please take as much as you can." a saleswoman said.

I didn't hesitate to take the best quality of what was on display without the sense of guilt. Beatrix and Francis however restrained me from taking too much.

"Save some for us, will you?" Beatrix said in annoyance.

After the party, we decided to head off in search for the beasts we were assigned to hunt down.

We all ventured towards the docks in the southern area of the town. There were people waving goodbye to us, and deep inside our hearts… we also wanted to see them again one day. As the captain signalled that it was time to send our farewells, the ship slowly caused the land once known as Ethenera to disappear in the mist.

The people we knew may have stayed behind, but the memories were taken forever with us.

The boat ride was quite the experience for us. The ocean breeze and the view of the sea was something to remember in our journey even though it was something merely simple. We took every moment of the ride and considered it to be a thing to be thankful for.

"Have you got the map from Mrs Lydia?" I asked Beatrice.

She looked worried once she found out it was not in her possession.

"Ah don't worry; it's with me… someone who could actually take care of it." Francis gleefully said.

A new continent came into view a few hours later and the climate rapidly changed. Our temperatures were so adapted to the cold that we forgot how warm some places could be. Even though it felt comfortable at first, we didn't think of even letting our guard down on a mysterious new continent.

"Land ho! Aye, 'tis time for you lot to be going aye? Me parrot and me-self will be missin' you lot, keep safe now you youngin's." the captain said with glee as he disappeared into the misty sea once again.

After a look around, we finally got back to our senses. The map showed that this was the continent of Firodinne, where plants naturally overgrew the mainland.

"Its so… nature-ey here compared to that wretched snowstorm so, I hope that's a good thing." Jeremiah commented.

Shortly after that, Elyssa's pocket began to glow an odd orange tint.

Elyssa's scroll happened to have changed colour and revealed a small picture of the beast she was meant to hunt. That immediately told us that this was her destination.

We walked down a dirt path until it leaded us to a small village of a strange race of humanoids. The people seemed to have the body of a normal person but the head of a fox. Notably, they also had the tail of a fox. Their bodies were covered in natural fur as well. We instantly knew this place was strange.

"Err, hello there! Could you perhaps lead us to the nearest town hall? We need to ask some questions about this village." Francis asked without hesitation.

The man gasped with a loud breath.

"You are humans, no? Oh dear me, we haven't seen any of your species for about… 100 years now! We all believed you were extinct!" a furry man said. "Oh, let me explain. The people you see here are known as the Lumi's, a civilisation worshipping the god Lunick. He saved the people from a war against the very nature itself outside of the village borders. It is forbidden for any of us to venture out into those wilds anymore - until we know Lunick has come back to us."

"I guess we won't need to visit any town hall after all." I explained.

We handed the image of Elyssa's beast over to the man; he slowly examined it.

"Please, I don't want to ever see that picture again!" he screamed in terror.

"What's so wrong about this? It's just another common fiend!" Elyssa exclaimed.

He sighed for a minute, and then began explaining again.

"That is the nature spirit Nexun, who dwells deep within the forest searching for any likes of us Lumi. He declared war against our people which was when Lunick appeared to become our saviour. The day fought like a fierce ballad of dancers, graceful but deadly. The night was a time to re-think for both deities, in their new plans. Apparently we were told Nexun wiped out the human population on this island of Firodinne, but now we have seen that was a mere myth." he explained.

"Thank you for all the information, we should get going now. Sorry for any bother we may have caused you." politely said Christie.

We decided to camp out on the same beach we arrived in. There was a great fishing spot there too, so food was the least of our worries. Not to mention, we also had a great time.

The group found out that Jeffrey was an excellent cook with anything we caught at the time. He carried various spices and herbs to make the best "Instant-meal" I had ever tasted! Then I thought this was probably a dish from the future as well.

"So, is everyone here excited to teach another fiend some manners? I'm sure we could pull it off quite easily this time!" laughed Beatrix with her mouth full.

"There are still some things we don't know about it, so don't underestimate anything sudden." her brother implied. "However, I would really like to burn that plant apart once we meet it."

Elyssa smiled in laughter along with the rest of the group but then, even our voices became tired, so we called it in for the night. Pleasant dreams were surely to come after that conversation.

The evening passed then the slightest gleam of dawn struck the surface of the sea. I was awake at this time only to see how beautiful it was. I woke up Francis by accident that morning, so we decided to watch the sunrise.

"That surely reminds you of home eh? Out of curiosity… do you miss our hometown?" he asked me.

"I only miss it a slight bit, but this journey brought us up to be much stronger versions of ourselves while meeting new friends on the way. I would never regret leaving home." I replied.

"The same here… every exact thought of it." agreed Francis.

As the sun began to rise even further, I heard a strange noise in the bushes.

"Who's in there? Reveal yourself!" I shouted whilst waking up the group.

"Your worst nightmares come to life…" It replied.


	6. Island Terrors

**Chapter Six:**

**Island Terrors**

The creature struck us with its vines and sharp-edged leaves. It was not the monster Elyssa sought for, but it was still something worth fearing. The monster was no bigger than an average horse so it seemed easy enough to fight off.

"Incinerate! Singe! Burn!" yelled Francis. His spells seemed to have no effect whatsoever and neither did mine. "It's no use! What could be wrong!"

We were clueless on why it had no effect and my scrolls proved that it was no illusion either.

"Given up already? You're all such simpletons." it replied with a vicious tone.

"The party's just started, now be prepared to be served in a dish!" exclaimed Jeffrey as he swung his sword at its vines. "I never really liked my vegetables, and I won't start now!"

The creature screamed in pain. We immediately knew this thing could only be damaged with pure physical power, so we all just began to bash our staves, swords and bows at it.

It retreated immediately after we knew its weakness.

"This island wasn't as safe as we had originally thought. Its best if we were to leave this area and keep moving." Jeffrey insisted. "Perhaps we could find a place to stay in the village despite the horrid animal stench that lingers there."

We walked towards the town, only to be attacked again by the same creatures. Beatrix expressed her anger by setting the forest on fire with her flaming arrows.

"Now they should stop coming." she coughed.

Oddly enough, her plan worked yet again. We then made our way to the village area to discover even more.

"HELP! HELP!" the townspeople yelped.

The village was filled of those evil creatures from left to right. We knew we couldn't possibly fight them all off at once. However, we tried our best to send off a minority of the creatures back to the burning forest Beatrix left behind.

From the anger the plant-like monsters showed, they forced all of their attacks directly onto our group and injured most of us badly.

"GAH! I can't feel my leg!" Jeremiah said with pain.

All of us were paralysed from the toxins within the vines that struck us. Then I remembered that spell Elyssa had taught us earlier in Ethenera.

"Purify!" I yelled out and then my numbness came to a stop.

Christie and I cast the spell onto the group while Elyssa healed our wounds and other injuries.

The monsters disappeared into the forest once the fire died down, so we had a time to relax at last.

The townspeople were heavily injured and only we were the ones around to help them. The man we saw earlier was also there but being surrounded by his children.

"Please help our papa! He can't move!" his children pleaded.

"Of course, we're only here to help." gracefully and reassuringly said Elyssa.

Her spells underwent a major change in look. Each time she cast a spell, white and red petals would appear in the stream of healing.

"What… happened?" she asked herself.

As the man became conscious, he explained yet again.

"My dear, you have been blessed by the god Lunick! We have been told that petals were a sign of nature's purity given by Lunick himself. You should consider yourself honoured." he said.

Elyssa smiled in awe, proud to be of help and to have been blessed by the deity the people worshipped.

"Thank you… Miss Elyssa." the children answered with shyness. "Papa is happy again thanks to you."

"Please do stay at our humble abode if you have nowhere else to go at the moment, my name is Lykanos and I am very pleased to meet you all."

We were invited to stay at their house and oddly the stench did not exist in there. It seemed to be very well-cleaned inside so we lost the complete awkwardness of it all.

"So, you humans did not originate from this island? Then where did you come from?" Lykanos eagerly questioned us.

"We came from each of our home continents and just recently we liberated the continent of Ethenera just a day ago. We had recently landed here by ship, only to realise that Elyssa is here to fulfil her quest in slaying Nexun!" Jeffrey exclaimed with great pride.

"HERE? TO SLAY NEXUN? You must all be completely insane! No one has ever been able to land a scratch onto Nexun's scaly hide other than our great Lunick!" Lykanos said with doubt in us.

"Only those with attributes of Lunick could probably ever be able to defeat Nexun." he explained once again.

"But haven't I been blessed by your deity? You saw it for yourself just earlier!" Elyssa said in belief.

"HAH! But what can a mere healer do to offend the beastly Nexun? Are 'ye going to prune his leaves and water his back? I think not, young lady!" Lykanos relented.

Elyssa left the room in a rage to see that someone were to offend the gifts she has. She also cast some thorned vines onto the doorway to block us from coming to her.

"She's not usually like this… or at least… NEVER like this before! What could possibly be driving her so angry that she'd not want to see us?" I questioned the situation.

"Leave the girl alone… she probably just needs to rethink her plan for success if she ever wants to face her utmost doom with Nexun. She's got guts I tell you, and that's something to be proud of!" Beatrix said in defence.

Now we finally knew the friendship between those two girls, almost like they shared a type of sisterly kinship. It was nice to see Beatrix standing up for someone.

After that argument, the party left for the woods once again but Elyssa seemed quiet on the journey.

On the way, Jeremiah and Jeffrey continued to slash their flails and blades on the shrubs that blocked our way. Oddly enough, it also seemed like elemental magic did not affect the native plants and flora.

"I guess I'll be useless on this continent. Well you guys enjoy yourself while you kick the butt of Nexun while I sit on the sidelines cheering you on." Francis commented in disappointment.

"Heh, you're not the only one buddy. None of my scrolls work either!" I exclaimed. "I'll just start smiting them with my rusty blade like the old times."

We then reached the other side of the beach where we saw another human appearing to be camping by the shoreline. We instantly knew Lykanos and the Lumi's did not know of this human either.

"Hey there! We mean you no harm!" Jeremiah said in an immature tone.

"Bro, you're making us sound suspicious…" Jeffrey explained.

I then immediately knew who this fellow was. He's been my archenemy for quite a while now, and I still have no intention in showing any pity for him.

"You! It's been a long while now hasn't it? The last time I saw you was during the time you were kicked out of apprenticeship!" I said to the boy around my age.

"Glad to see you remember this face old pal, or is it… old buddy?" he replied.

"Christian, call me buddy again and I'll have this cactus in your throat!" I threatened him.

"I see you haven't changed a bit! Well at least my 'buddy' is still himself!" he said in annoyance.

I was so eager to lift up cacti and stuff it down his loud mouth, but I'd rather spare myself the mess of cleaning up the mess afterward. If anyone was the 'Island Terror' it was him.

"We need some answers and fast fella! Tell us everything you know about the continent of Firodinne! Tell us about the deity Nexun! Spill it!" Beatrix demanded.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold your horses ma'm! I'll tell you everything but please keep the volume to a minimum! The deity Nexun has been dormant in the ruins just east of here. There you will find a Lumi named Ark who's been my guide throughout the whole time I've been here." Christian explained.

With a gentle kick to this leg, I finally got a portion of my rage calmed. He also decided to tag along with us as a guide to the ruins.

On the way, we heard some more rustling in the bushes. Small Lumian children came running to us screaming. We then remembered Lykanos telling us that Lumi's are not allowed to venture the outside land until their deity had come back.

A larger, fiercer beast came out of the deep green but it was not the one we had searched for.

"Another overgrown cabbage who's come to be part of my soup has returned. Prepare to be served as a gourmet delight my green friend!" Jeffrey said as he prepared his blade for battle.

However, the fiend released odd yellow goo that rendered his sword useless and sticky.

"I've kept quiet for long enough! It's for me time to spring into action!" Christie jolted with enthusiasm and delight. "I call forth my winged friend the Chocobo!"

"Uh, Christie, I'm sure another company has already taken that name – so spare yourself the copyright lawsuits." Francis implied.

"Then, I shall call him Bok-choy!" she said as a replacement.

"No, that's a vegetable sis." Beatrix added.

"Fine then! Go Bird of Justice!" Christie said in desperation.

"I'd really want to say something right now, but I can see that your 'Bird of Justice' would want to eat me if we kept changing his name." I commented.

The feathery bird began to peck and eat the giant plant-like fiend piece by piece, leaf by leaf.

After that hour of munching, the Bird of Justice was full and dismissed by Christie.

"I swear we never take any of this seriously enough." Elyssa said with her mouth open wide.


	7. LeafWhistle Requiem

**Chapter Seven:**

**Leaf-Whistle Requiem**

As we walked onto the path to the ruins, we passed by a young Lumi who was playing some odd music with a flute. The notes he had played gave a terrifying chill to my ears as they began to torment my mind.

"What's… happening to us?" I asked myself.

We were slowly being sent mad as the music kept playing.

"Argh, this is a trap! That's not a Lumi!" Beatrix noted.

The furry fiend finally revealed its true form. Like all the others, it was another vicious plant but this one was more mammalian than the others. It shrieked a horrible noise across the field, deafening us slowly.

"Barrier!" Elyssa yelled out in rescue.

A majority of the noise was blocked out by the kinetic wall Elyssa had conjured, however the shriek could still be heard.

"Wha… what is that thing?" Francis questioned.

"That's a Nyx, related to Banshees but lives in more tropical climates. It also changes its form depending on where it is, which explains the plant-like form it's taken." Jeffrey had answered in reply. "If you were to hear its song for too long, you would be permanently deafened without a cure. It curses your hearing rather than breaking down the structure of your eardrums, which is why mere medicine can't do anything to help you if you were to be captured by the sound."

After that information, we closely watched our guard and tried to sneak past the critter. However our efforts failed when the barrier had broken. The noise travelled once again, but we had kept casting protections.

"Soon enough, I won't have enough strength to keep us shielded. We have to go now!" Elyssa pleaded.

During our escape, we had to make diversions or retaliate at the monster from getting closer. Eventually we knew where to head to for shelter.

"Huff… puff… can't we slow down a little?" I asked the group.

"If you want to be eaten alive by that thing or deaf for the rest of your life, be my guest and give yourself a break. Otherwise, quit complaining and keep running!" Beatrix angrily replied.

We had to return to town, for it was the only way to keep us from harm. We fled back to the town to revise our plan in heading to the ruins. We passed by Lykanos' house once more for some information.

"Back so soon brave adventurers? Have you brought back any evidence of killing Nexun?" he sarcastically asked.

We were ashamed to say we had failed, so we decided to change the subject a slight bit.

"We were nearing the entrance of the ruins, until a Nyx had attacked us. Do you have clue why that was there specifically at the ruins?" Elyssa asked.

Lykanos was hasty to reply.

"Ah yes, that fellow is the Ruin Guardian and won't seem to allow anyone inside. You seem to have plenty of trouble on your hands. If you can't beat a mere Nyx, then how do you expect to land a blow on Nexun?" he asked us with a troubled look on his face.

"That's why we came to you; to ask for some advice!" Jeremiah had finally spoken. "My sister is destined to rescue you people, and you don't seem to appreciate her efforts! Also, if you want to be saved so much, why won't you help the ones doing the saving? What's wrong with you?"

Jeremiah pointed his dagger at Lykanos' snout hoping to get some words out of him. His face turned a pinkish red from all the rage he had kept inside.

"Now this one has more enthusiasm, so why not? Might as well help you fellows, but I'll need the help of your odd friend over there." Lykanos said pointing to Christian.

"Who? Me? How can I be of service?" He asked.

Lykanos had a mischievous smile brewing.

"This is going to be rough, but the only way to kill a Nyx is by Leaf-whistle. To create a Leaf-whistle, one must combine an ordinary leaf, a leaf from Nyx and a human soul. I see that this friend of yours isn't part of your main asset? So, we'll have to 'borrow' his soul to complete the Leaf-whistle ritual." Lykanos chuckled while explaining.

"WHAT! There's no way I'm turning my soul into some fancy nature instrument! Go get someone else!" Christian relented with a loud voice.

"If we're voting, I'll be sure to vote him to be our soul donator!" I laughed.

The others glared at the two of us.

"Those two don't seem to have a very good history with each other." Francis whispered to the group.

"Wait, so other than a human soul, we'll need an ordinary, everyday leaf plus a Nyx Leaf? How can we obtain Nyx's leaves?" Christie had asked.

He gave us an odd stare.

"You lot have swords right? Well then, slice off a part of Nyx and bring it back? Just ignore the shrieking and you should be fine." he mentioned without hesitation.

We all sighed.

"We wouldn't dare try to fight that thing off again. We almost lost our lives in the earlier battle." Jeffrey commented.

Elyssa then came up with a brand new idea that was well worth trying.

"What if we could find the dead remains of a past Nyx? That would still work right?" she said.

Lykanos gave us a smile, which was rather odd of him.

"Yes, I guess that could work too, but finding Nyx parts lying around is easier said than done. When Nyx's' pass away, their souls and bodies are sent off to the afterlife. However, every Nyx leaves behind evidence of its existence. They leave behind a peculiar flower at the place they were deceased. Simply pick a leaf off the flower stem and that could substitute as a Nyx Leaf." he explained.

The group had finally gotten their spirits back, and were eager to set off to find the ingredients.

"Let's get to it then!" Jeremiah jumped for joy.


	8. Journey's Triumph

**Chapter Eight:**

**Journey's Triumph**

The group ventured out into the green landscape, in search for the raw materials for their battle against Nexun.

"Jeremiah, hurry up and pick a leaf off that tree." Jeffrey had asked impatiently.

The tree Jeremiah had picked was not an actual tree – but another large overgrown vegetable wanting to kill us.

"This is getting old. Why can't they just leave us alone? We have business to attend to!" Christie implied.

She set off her Bird of Justice to deal with the fiend, so that we could get on with our journey.

"Heh, why didn't I think of this earlier? It would've been simpler to do it this way." she had finally realised.

Jeremiah had finally picked off the leaf, and so we were off.

We walked by the odd peculiar path, which seemed to be a little bit too quiet for our standards. We knew this was very suspicious.

Another human girl appeared to us, straight out of the bushes.

"Oh... outsiders? We don't usually find you lot. Well, welcome to West Firodinne! I can probably guess the Lumi's told you that no humans have been seen for hundreds of years? That's only because no Lumi gets around these parts." She said.

Just beyond the shrubs laid another town, but much more civil and stench-free.

"Oh and by the way, the name's April! Glad to meet you lot!" she explained.

We browsed the Townsville to restock on food and supplies.

We then heard a tapping noise on one of the tiled rooftops. Another girl came dropping down and grabbed Jeffrey by the neck.

"WHOA! Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy!" Jeffrey yelled out.

The shady girl took off her mask, and those two finally recognised each other.

"Trish? Is that you? Well, it's been far too long!" he exclaimed.

As she withdrew her katana, she began to speak.

"Heya! Sorry for threatening you earlier, but it was the only way to grab your attention" Trish sighed.

"You could've just yelled out HELLO instead" he began to argue.

We left those two to talk, and we were off.

April lead us to the town hall, where we spoke to the Mayor about Nexun.

"Ho, ho, ho! The deity Nexun is what you're after eh? And you say you needed ingredients? Luck has brought you here then! Just outside the town, is a flowerbed of Nyx Blossoms! The human soul you require, is a little tricky, however you should be able to attain a corrupted soul from the Graveyard a bit further north from here." The mayor explained.

We finally knew what to do, so we ventured off once again – this time with two extra companions.

As usual, on the way there were fierce plants and trees grabbing Jeffrey by the neck. His neck got sore after a while.

We stopped by the flowerbed to find out that it was far too easy to get to. We approached a flower and attempted to pick it.

"WAIT! Nyx flowers are poisonous!" April yelled.

"Could've probably told us sooner?" Elyssa grunted.

"That's it; I have a phobia of nature." Jeffrey groaned.

We left Francis to do his little magic spells to levitate the flower and into a container.

"Finally I'm useful for something other than to cheer." He proudly mentioned.

**TO BE CONTINUED!**


End file.
